Mark and Execute
by GodOfFlame101
Summary: AU. "She was nothing special; just a typical female form with typical charcoal hair and brown eyes that were settled on the sultry band. In his eyes, she was just another mark." Rated for Suggestive Themes/Violence
1. Esse Est Percipi

Disclaimer: I, GodOfFlame101 under the alias of Damien, do not own any copyrights, Trademarks or affiliates of the Anime/Manga InuYasha. I receive no revenue from this story and this story may be distributed or revoked by the will of the producers of said Anime/Manga without myself seeing so much as a penny.

* * *

_**Esse Est Precipi**_

Mark and Execute

* * *

Soft Jazz – such a beautiful thing it was: the wailing moan of the tenor saxophone as it expelled its long string of notes, arching its melody to accommodate the shifting chords; the steady rhythm of the drum-set, the feathered sticks pounding the snare with unabashed passion; the angelic crescendo of the flute as the high-pitched siren song echoed off of the high-rise ceiling, vibrations settling into the chandelier above. The Inu-hanyou closed his honey-colored eyes, letting the atmosphere settle in around him; the clang of money as it was ejected from machines, the happy shouts of patrons and the dulcet tune of good times had by all mixed delicately with the music that was permeating his ears.

Inuyasha let out a single chuckle. "This place sure has style."

His ears flattened against his head as the flute player hit a sour note, disappearing into a sea of silky smooth silver hair. Most people he had run into during the course of his life had just tried to ignore his flowing hair; of course, there were some people who absolutely _loved_ it and would constantly beg him to let them touch it – almost as if stroking someone's head was a fetish to them. Inuyasha would almost never let them on the basis that, to ask to touch a stranger's head, was just plain weird. Although, there were some people that he allowed to touch his glorious mane – a select couple of individuals, one of whom Inuyasha was simply _itching_ to see…

Cracking an eye open, Inuyasha looked himself over once more for good measure. The suit – which he despised – was in perfect condition and his large tanned briefcase seemed to be holding up just fine. True, there was no reason for it _not_ to hold together but one can never be too sure in this line of work.

Without glancing at the security checkpoint he had just passed, Inuyasha strolled into the main area of the casino. He took time to lazily gaze as people threw their hard earned money away into slot machines, repeatedly putting coin after coin into the brown contraption's hungry little mouth, only to be disappointed when no returns were made. Humans were so easy to fool; they were always ready to give up anything, _everything_, for a fleeting moment of happiness. None of them understood that, in order to find happiness, they would have to actually work towards it; humans would have to create opportunities in order to take them – kind of like what he was doing.

His amber eyes flicked toward the bar, ignoring the subtle glances he was being given from women dressed in provocative clothing as well as the cocktail waitress, settling on a particular human girl. In his eyes, she was nothing special; just a typical female form with typical charcoal hair and brown eyes that were settled on the sultry band. In his eyes, she was just another mark.

The Inu-hanyou made his way over to her, weaving delicately through the throng of idle patrons, silently beckoning for her eyes to catch his. His ears perked up while the human girl's face suddenly became alert as if someone had tapped her on the shoulder; she turned her head towards him, a look of curiosity on her countenance. Without thinking, Inuyasha smiled at her, prompting her to reciprocate with a shine in her chocolate eyes. Their gazes remained locked as he approached, obviously welcomed by her, taking great pains to avoid looking at the silver briefcase positioned next to her stool. He'd get to lay eyes on it soon enough.

"Hey there," he said, taking a seat in the stool next to her.

"Hello," she answered calmly, her gaze wavering as though a thought was bouncing around in her mind. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Inuyasha chuckled a bit at the question, amber irises retreating behind his eyelids as he readied himself to answer. He never did like lying, especially to women; if his current relationship had taught him anything, it was that fibbing or stretching the truth was _never_ a good idea. Lying had a nasty habit of intruding into everyday life; once a person tells one lie, more will inevitably follow.

"I'm afraid I would have remembered meeting a girl as pretty as you," Inuyasha murmured just loud enough for her to hear. It was a _blatant_ lie but it would be weird to say, "yeah, you saw me once when my friends and I were tailing you to your hotel room the other day"_._

The girl with chocolate eyes looked at him, her smile growing wider. "Well, then let's meet now. My name is Kagome," the girl announced, extending her hand for him to grab. "What's yours?"

Inuyasha gingerly took her hand, rubbing his thumb gently over her knuckles as he stared into her cocoa orbs; his countenance softened at her, masking just how much he did _not_ care about the girl. She could drop-dead right now and Inuyasha knew he wouldn't do a damn thing about it. "Why don't I tell you over a drink?"

She nodded at him, her Cheshire smile now in bloom, and Inuyasha could feel a pointed fang slip out from his lips as he attempted to hold back a sneer. _'Women are clueless.'_ It was always surprising just how easy a girl could be won over; a few simple eye motions and a gentle grasp of the hand and they instantly fell head over heels. How many times now had he done and said the exact same thing now? Forty-seven, or was it forty-eight? Every single time, Inuyasha would flash a toothy smile, signaling to the others that it was time to start, and the mark would instantly trust him.

It astounded him that all women always enjoyed the fake him and hated the real him. Well, all women except for one…

Inuyasha led the girl – Kagome – toward a set of tables parallel to the bar, sneaking a glance at the case she carried with her, and casually pulled out a seat for her before sitting down across from her, his ears flicking themselves every so often. After he sat down, he caught the girl staring at him – specifically at the top of his head, her smile replaced by innocent curiosity.

"What's your problem?"

"Your ears," Kagome said pointedly, still staring at the top of his head. "They look like dog ears."

Inuyasha cringed at the comment, fluffy triangles sagging slightly, as every fiber of his being tensed up in an attempt to control him from flipping out. It wasn't that he was offended; it was just second nature at this point. Growing up with weird appendages commonly elicits two results from a passerby: either the person tries desperately to ignore it, or the person points it out to make fun of it. When he was younger, Inuyasha would tolerate the racist jokes about his ears and simply act like he never heard them. However, now that he was older, he didn't take too kindly to strangers focusing on his ears.

"So what if they are?" Inuyasha spat out, rather harshly, immediately regretting his tone of voice.

For a moment, the real him emerged – indifferent, quick tempered – and he enjoyed it. **Problem:** the real him wasn't going to keep her in place long enough to make the switch. The _real_ him would pick a fight with a five year-old for a bowl of ramen. His normal attitude was assuredly _not _the type to keep a girl entranced in the set-up…and the others would probably purify him if he caused this job to fail.

Kagome didn't even react to his outburst as she blinked at the furry ears on top of his head. Instead, she reached her arms out and rubbed his ears before she quickly pulled back and wiped her hands on her dress. "Okay, now that I've got that out of my system…"

Inuyasha sat in his chair, baffled by the strange girl in front of him, ears cocked at different angles from the spontaneous touching. She…she had just touched his ears. Despite what some people may believe, it's not all that common for humans to caress his ears – the stigma associated with demons applying to him as well. Sure, some people liked to touch his hair but that's a little different than wanting to touch his…abnormality. Most people just assumed that, since Inuyasha was a demon, he'd gnaw their hand off or worse; he might instantly go into "heat" and begin dry-humping their leg.

"Are you going to tell me your name or am I just going to have to call you 'mystery man'?" Kagome teased with seductive eyes, inching forward slightly.

Straightening his face and adjusting his false smile, Inuyasha answered the girl. "My name is…"

* * *

The next couple hours went by painfully slow as Inuyasha proceeded to chat-up his target with petty and meaningless conversations. As much as he enjoyed the pay-offs with his job, he immensely hated having to listen as women (and occasionally men) prattled on and on about their miserable lives; they always had a way of explaining how their aristocratic upbringing and bourgeois lifestyle was _full_ of hardships. It was a tad sickening to listen to, offset only by the fact that, after a couple hours, those same men and women would _truly_ understand what financial hardship was.

That thought always made him smile.

Still, it would be unfair of him to simply plaster the "pampered princess" label on the girl; she was nice, albeit a bit strange. At the very least, she kept the conversation away from money and her upbringing. Although Inuyasha could tell she came from wealth, what with her exotically exquisite ensemble. Her green, strapless dress, clung tightly to her form as though it were afraid to remove itself from her person; the soft fabric rustled against her sides whenever she moved, delicately caressing her trimmed core; the cloth's embrace parted slightly at her chest, giving an open view of her round and supple…

Inuyasha turned his eyes away as Kagome dug into her purse, presumably for some sort of make-up kit or phone. His eyes trailed around the main floor of the casino, flicking his ears toward a man and woman at the craps table who nodded in return. His arms shot up, right hand grabbing his left elbow, and he stretched his muscles out a bit, sneaking a quick peek at the silver case next to Kagome. It was sitting on the ground in plain sight.

'_Sango and Miroku better have gotten the cue,' _Inuyasha thought angrily as he reached down to grab his suitcase. His thumb rested steadily on a small release lever built into the locking mechanism. The Inu-hanyou didn't want to spend more time with the mark than necessary, even if she wasn't being a complete bitch.

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" a voice asked, yanking Inuyasha out of his stupor. A devilish smirk spread across Inuyasha's face as he looked at their "waitress". In return, she smiled back at him with a small wink.

"Nothing for me," Inuyasha stated blankly as his amber eyes gazed longingly at the waitress before flicking themselves back over to Kagome. "How about you?"

"I'd like a caipisake, please," Kagome said sweetly as she turned to their waitress. A questioning look appeared on Kagome's face the moment she saw the woman taking their orders; the woman looked oddly…similar to Kagome.

The woman nodded at Kagome, taking a quick glance at Inuyasha, and departed toward the bar to get the order; Kagome couldn't help but stare after the woman and she couldn't help but notice that her 'date' had given the stranger a remarkably friendly smile. Kagome wasn't jealous but she did find it a tad odd.

"So what do you do for a living, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked suddenly, his concentration falling back onto the job.

"Oh, you know, odd jobs here and there. I'm an artist, you know?" Kagome replied hurriedly. Inuyasha had to fight _very_ hard to keep himself from walking away from the girl right then and there; every time a person claimed they were some sort of "artist", what they really meant was that they had no purpose in life whatsoever and deserved to be taken to a back-alley and shot for being such a waste of human life. "What do you do?"

Inuyasha let another fanged smile appear on his lips. "I'm an antique appraiser." It wasn't a _complete_ lie. After all, he _did_ frequently view valuable objects.

"Oh, that sounds pretty cool!" Kagome exclaimed with surprising enthusiasm. "It must be neat getting to see ancient and historical things every day. What era is your specialty?"

"Actually it's-"

Inuyasha was interrupted as a small _clang_ was heard against the top of their table. There was a glass of caipisake in front of Kagome and a silky smooth hand attached to it. Trailing his eyes along the owner's arm, Inuyasha was soon looking at the "waitress" with her long ebony hair and soft brown eyes; those very same eyes were staring at him, a small sly smile forming on her lips as the Inu-hanyou nodded at her. Even he had to admit, she pulled off that look surprising well: the black slacks, the small white collared shirt, the red velvet dress. Hell, if he didn't know any better, even _he_ would have bought it…

"Thank you," Kagome said as the waitress pulled her hand away.

The woman simply nodded at Kagome, unable to avert her eyes away from Inuyasha's burning amber gaze despite the fact that she was _supposed_ to. In all actuality, she was _supposed_ to have excused herself by now and gone off to do whatever it is waitresses do. However, sometimes things don't go according to plan and alternate measures need to be taken; it's a bit like amputation in a sense – never the _best_ move but occasionally necessary.

Inuyasha laughed softly, still staring at their "waitress". He had an idea about how to get her back on track. He leaned back in his chair, turning his head between Kagome and the woman. "You know, I almost didn't notice but you two look oddly alike."

A smirk plastered itself on Inuyasha's face when he saw Kagome tilt her head at him, confused as to why he would say that; it grew even wider as he caught the small twitch of the waitress's right eye, her eyes hardening into a shallow glare – and, if had heard correctly, she was actually _growling_ at him. Yeah, he had clearly pissed her off.

"If you two need anything else…"

As their waitress turned to leave, she was shoved out of the way by a man who had stumbled into the area. His eyes were dull, as if he were in a trance, and his movements were sloppy; it was obvious that he was quite intoxicated. Fists were banged against the table as the man leaned into it, a heated scowl emitting from his mouth as he looked at the Inu-hanyou with disgust; his gray eyes burned with displeasure at the sight before him, loathing the abomination sitting at the table.

Cocking an eyebrow at the man before him, Inuyasha felt his thumb slam against the release lever on his briefcase. "You got some sort of problem?"

"Yeah, with half-breeds like you!" the man shouted, grabbing a hold of Inuyasha's collar.

Inuyasha could feel his eyebrow twitch at the comment. For once, that insult had been completely unexpected…The half-demon stood up, face to face with his assailant, and grabbed the moron by the folds of his tuxedo, growling menacingly at the bigot. The two of them exchanged some very color remarks back and forth, much to the amazement of Kagome and the waitress.

"Whash are youse doin' to m'hushband!" a woman shrieked as she stumbled over to the two fighting men. She nearly tripped over her feet as she advanced toward the scene, grabbing onto Kagome's chair for support.

Wonderful. Now there were two drunkards ruining the evening.

"Um, excuse me…" Kagome near whimpered, surprised by the situation.

The drunk woman sent her an angry glare, lips twitching with unabashed fury. "Oh, ansh jush who might youse be? You'res that mutt'sh mate aren't youse? I'll kill ya'!" The woman lunged on top of Kagome, desperately trying to strangle her.

Inuyasha tossed a quick wink to the man before flipping him over onto the table so that his upper-back was slammed against the edge of the tabletop, sending a jagged crack coursing through the gilded oak. Inuyasha could hear the soft _clicking_ of metal on metal as his briefcase was moved about in a delicate and purposeful manner. Inuyasha could see a small twinkle of silver from the bottom of the briefcase as the man lifted the tanned object up and over Kagome's silver case, trapping it inside Inuyasha's. Effectively, it looked as though both cases had simply been thrown around in the scuffle; the two containers appeared as though they had just switched places in a sense.

There was still a tan briefcase and a silver case; no one would assume that the current silver casing was actually a decoy that had been fitted to look _exactly_ like Kagome's case.

After a few moments of semi-realistic struggling, casino security came over and pulled the two drunkards away, escorting them out of the casino.

Relieved, Inuyasha turned toward Kagome. "Well, now that's settled, where were-"

"Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," their waitress announced, tenderly grabbing hold of Inuyasha's arm. "You've broken private property and engaged in harming another patron. Please come with me."

"Bullshit!" Inuyasha seethed, glaring at the "waitress". After he saw that there was no changing her mind, Inuyasha let out a loud "feh", picked up his briefcase and turned to Kagome as he was dragged away. "I'll see you around?"

Kagome simply shrugged at the half-demon with a humored smile as he was led off to the elevator. Noticing that her case was moved, Kagome reached over and grabbed it; she gave the Inu-hanyou a small wave as the doors of the elevator closed on him.

For the first time in seven hours, Inuyasha sighed in content. It was reflexive, a response to adrenaline-high euphoria he was currently feeling; his back muscles arched toward the back of the cubed enclosure, forcing him to lean against the metal wall. Blood was pumping quickly throughout his body, steadily slowing as his breathing became deeper and more relaxed. The moment before a job was officially complete always gave him a rush; that moment where any spontaneous thing could happen was so exciting.

Inuyasha cocked his head at the "waitress" in front of him as she stood there oh-so-innocently. Her long black hair was tied into a neat ponytail and she remained so statuesque as the elevator descended _quite_ slowly to the main floor.

'_Exciting…'_ Inuyasha thought, a dastardly gleam in his eye.

He snaked an arm around the woman, a strong tug bringing her up against him; she fidgeted a little bit, almost daring to pull away from him, before quickly succumbing to the feel of Inuyasha and melting into him. He brought his lips to her neck, gently trailing them up and to her ears to nibble on them; in return, she stepped down on his foot with in a very clear, "No."

"Ow!" Inuyasha yelped, bringing his chin to rest on the nape of the woman's neck. "Come on. You're not _still_ mad at me, are you?"

The woman scoffed at him as her hand found its way to the top of the hanyou's head and began scratching it. "I specifically asked you to stop comparing the two of us. Why would you deliberately say something that would upset me?"

He growled slowly into her ear and she let out a small laugh. She could tell it was an affectionate growl.

"You know, you're pretty cute when you're angry…" Inuyasha mumbled.

"Am I now?" the woman asked, retracting her hand from the hanyou's head.

"Yeah, you are."

Their little moment was interrupted by the sound of the elevator arriving at their floor. With gusto, the woman planted a quick kiss on Inuyasha's cheek before pulling away from him and adjusting her outfit. "I'll see you back at the house."

Inuyasha chuckled as he exited the steel contraption, moving toward the ground floor's security checkpoint. He took a quick glance behind him and at the smiling woman in the elevator.

"See you soon, Kikyo."

* * *

The early morning darkness receded from the skies, dragging out the colored curling clouds of the new day; tanned skies painted themselves over the morning blue, while the great puffs of air gently caressed the silky smooth sky. The past events of an eventful morning, their con at the casino, were pulled away with the retreating night taking all possibility of suspicion with it. While things may not have gone completely according to plan, the quartet had managed to pull everything off: The Hook, The Distraction, The Switch and The Getaway.

Inuyasha's hand twitched from its spot behind his head, causing him to scratch lightly. True, those terms weren't necessarily _standard_ but he had always liked how the phases sounded; it made every moment just that much more enjoyable. After being in the business for so many years, he needed to squeeze out every last bit of excitement he could lest the monotony set in. Hell, everything in life needed sprucing up.

Fluffy white ears twitched on his head as a content moan was pressed against his chest. He could feel his cocky smirk returning as the woman with soft brown eyes turned to look up at him. _'Well, maybe not everything needs sprucing.'_

"Good morning, Inuyasha," Kikyo greeted, nestling her chin against Inuyasha's chest. Her ebony air was sprawled across the mattress, intertwining with his ivory locks.

"Feh," was all Inuyasha could bring himself to say. Being sweet and caring in the morning was never something he had been good at. His body fidgeted at their exchange, unfortunately forcing Kikyo to sit up; she smiled tenderly at him, despite his nervous mannerisms. Cracking an eye open, Inuyasha observed the woman's soft expression. He knew he should apologize for causing her to move, but… "I think we did pretty good last night, Kikyo."

Kikyo's smile faded a tad as she exhaled a bit of breath, untangling their hair. "It's odd that the execution went so smoothly."

"Yeah, it was easy," Inuyasha said, his eyes now completely open and shining brightly. He was pretty psyched that everything had gone well; the gem inside that case was worth _more_ than enough to keep their little gang from worrying about money for quite a while.

Kikyo looked back at him, a sly smile streaking across her lips. "Maybe just a bit too easy?" she asked him with a bit of…was that hope to her voice? Seeing the confused expression on Inuyasha's face, Kikyo waved off her question before crawling over him and off the bed. "Oh, and thank you for letting me borrow your shirt, Inuyasha. You know how I despise sleeping in…"

"Feh, I know," Inuyasha stated, looking off into empty space. Suddenly, he was blinded by some sort of cloth. Tearing it off of his face, Inuyasha noticed that the cloth was actually his shirt. Naturally, he turned to Kikyo and, naturally, his jaw fell as he saw the half-naked woman reach for a towel that was hanging on the doorknob. "W-what are you doing?"

"Going to take a shower," Kikyo responded casually as she walked past him and toward the room-adjacent bathroom, not even bothering to wrap the towel around her exposed body. As she stood in the doorframe, Kikyo cocked an eyebrow at the hanyou, complete with one of her rare grins. "_Someone_ got chocolate syrup in my hair."

Inuyasha quickly turned his body over, putting his back to the woman who was so evilly giggling at his embarrassment, in an attempt to hide the blush that had appeared on his face. He barely moved or breathed until the sound of running water could be heard, for fear that his lover might still be there to see his moment of weakness. It was kind of funny in a way; for all his cockiness and attitude, Inuyasha would _still_ become embarrassed by even the most routine moments with Kikyo.

Though, in his defense: last night's chocolate syrup adventure was something new to both of them.

Finally twisting his body back around, Inuyasha's eyes landed squarely on the precious stone that was so perfectly placed inside the open case. It sat there, its vibrant plum color mingling with the cacophony of tainted sky that managed to pass through the window. Inuyasha could see the landscape changing in the jewel as he moved his head from side to side; the cloud puffs and tanned air became distorted with each movement, perverted by his desire to seek out different angles.

There was an odd darkness that seemed to envelope the gem; a sea of black cloth lined the inner walls of the case, suffocating the pretty stone with its embrace. The side Inuyasha could see distorted the world, however, he could not see the other; would it be possible that the other side did not distort the blackness? Is it possible to distort a single color? Does the distortion only occur because of his viewing, or is it because there is simply too much for the jewel to reflect? Ah, but such complex thoughts dared not trifle the Inu-hanyou; he had something much more important to think about.

'_Sesshoumaru better be giving us top-dollar for this.'_

With a hip and a skip, Inuyasha flipped off of his bed and slipped into his shirt. He considered the fact that a complete change of clothes may be in order, but why _bother_ if his half-brother was coming? If Sesshoumaru saw his half-blood brother looking ratty, it would probably piss him off; Inuyasha was willing to do _anything_ that pissed Sesshoumaru off.

Inuyasha walked out of the small bedroom, moving through the narrow hallway and into the small living room. Unsurprisingly, Inuyasha was starving; food was almost always his second though in the mornings. He tried to ignore the two shills as they sat on their ass, playing their games at an obnoxious volume. It was going pretty well, until some obnoxious jackass on the screen shouted, "**enemy a' see one-thirty above!**"

"Miroku, you cheater!" the woman shill shouted, inching closer to the television monitor.

"What? It's a legitimate strategy," the male shill responded firmly, maintaining a docile composure. "Perhaps, dear Sango, you should invest more time into learning the game."

Taking a frozen meal from the freezer, Inuyasha did his best to ignore the rants of his two friends as they squawked back and forth to each other. He placed his frozen meal into the microwave, grumbling as the male shill – Miroku – said something that bordered on sexist; the woman shill – Sango – replied by threatening to make him sex-less. Precisely thirty seconds elapsed from the time Inuyasha put in his food, to the time he lost his patience and took out the tray. He was hungry damn it; waiting for food was something that Inuyasha just _didn't_ do.

"You just did it again!" Sango half-yelled, turning her attention toward the one called Miroku.

"I've told you before that I'm employing a fair strategy," Miroku calmly stated.

"Touching my _butt_ is not a strategy!"

"It's an appropriate distraction."

"Appropriate? It's completely _in_appropriate!"

Inuyasha groaned lowly as he made his way over to a ragged brown recliner adjacent to his associates, toting the half-frozen breakfast in his hands. As he sat down and leaned back, the rather jagged cushions grinding against his uncovered ankles, his feet dug into the prickly tan carpet, attempting to smooth over the rather rough fabric in autonomous motion. His fingers immediately dug into the small, prepared meal – Inuyasha hadn't bothered to find silverware – only ceasing his consumption on occasion to glare at the shills who were very interested in taunting each other; normally their behavior wouldn't faze him, but one of last night's incidents had not put him in a very happy mood with the male shill.

The food was, to be blunt, incredibly bland even by the half-demon's standards. It was hardly appetizing; it was hard to even tell what "it" was. The food could have been a piece of bark with sugar on it for all Inuyasha knew. Sure, the inu-hanyou wasn't much for caviar or fancy foreign cuisine, but even that seemed more tolerable than the current crud he had to endure. And let it be incredibly clear: Inuyasha absolutely _despised_ high-class dining, going so far as to sneakily break fine china during dinner parties when no one was looking. Even so, he much would have preferred it –or a shmorgishborg of ramen – over his current cardboard meal; they would have to survive on the stuff for a couple more days however, until their arrangements back to Kyoto were in order and they could actually spend money again.

"Will ya' both shut the hell up?" Inuyasha demanded as the rambunctious behavior of the two shills continued to escalate, a morsel of meat dangling from the corner of his mouth.

Miroku cocked his head at the half-demon, casually pausing the game in front of him. "Is something the matter, Inuyasha?"

'_You're damn right something's the matter, Miroku,'_ Inuyasha thought to himself, right eye twitching in annoyance. Still, he would bring it up later; it was better to remind them of the more pressing matter. "Yeah, Sesshoumaru's going to be here soon and you know what'll happen if things are too loud. You guys will be useless without arms."

Sango scoffed playfully at the Inu-hanyou, making her way from the floor to the kitchenette. "Come on, Inuyasha. The only person Sesshoumaru would bother to kill is you."

Two fluffy-white triangles twitched on the top of Inuyasha's head at the statement. Sango was definitely right. The Inu-youkai always seemed incredibly ignorant if anyone other than his half-brother were to say something that could be considered offensive. In addition, Sesshoumaru was likely none too pleased with how Inuyasha had the entire group travelling so closely…

"Feh," was the indifferent reply.

A few moments later, Kikyo emerged from the shower room and strolled across the floor. Before nodding to Sango and heading toward the kitchenette, Kikyo dropped their bounty – the silver case – into Inuyasha's lap. Grabbing a kettle and filling it with water, setting the container on the stove to boil, she procured a packet of tea from a nearby cylinder and set it into a mug. Afterwards, Kikyo moved to sit down in another brown chair parallel to Inuyasha; the two of them exchanged a quick glance before the monotony of boredom and anticipation overtook the room.

On the floor, Sango was sprawled out with her plate resting on a box near the television; her fists punched the air in fluid movements as her elbows contorted at different angles, allowing her to defeat imaginary foes as she half-practiced her martial arts. Beside her sat Miroku, who had turned his attention to a laptop computer; his fingers glided across the keyboard in a cacophony of clicks and the screen flickered with images first of binary and then of several document files deemed _classified_.

Inuyasha spared glances at his friends while hi claws traced the protruding lines of the silver case. While it was something that he wouldn't say often, he was grateful for their companionship and happy with their friendship. Tracking them all down had taken more work than he had cared to remember; when he first got in on the "game," he thought it'd be simple to pull off grand exploits all on his lonesome. That notion quickly changed after spending a couple years in a Swiss penitentiary for bank-robbery (the charges were later expunged due to some prodding from foreign powers). Shortly thereafter, the Inu-hanyou saw it fit to hunt down a few extra members and, in doing so, he found the other three members of his quartet, each with their own set of skills that had proven absolutely vital in the past four years…

"So Inuyasha," Miroku called out, closing his laptop and looking to the half-demon. "How much did Sesshoumaru say this jewel is worth?"

Inuyasha took a bite of his horrible food and munched loudly, ignoring the question.

"…You _did_ discuss the payment _before_ we went out last night, correct?" Kikyo chimed in, leaning back in her chair.

"Y-yeah." The word stumbled out of Inuyasha's mouth as he turned his head away from the eyes that were beginning to stare at him in doubt.

"So, how much?" Miroku questioned again.

Inuyasha's ears twitched.

"…You two couldn't come to an agreement, could you?"

"It ain't my fault!" Inuyasha snarled, only to be greeted by groans from his teammates. "_He's_ the one who had to be all difficult and stuff."

"Inuyasha," Kikyo said tenderly. "We've told you before. It's better that we take care of the monetary problems before we go and risk our lives."

"I know, okay?" Inuyasha shot back, trying desperately to relay some amount of affection to her with his eyes. He must have succeeded for Kikyo smiled at him and went back to staring at the ceiling. The other two shills mirrored her reaction, dropping the subject as quickly as it had been brought up and going back to their boredom-killing. The three were being especially kind considering his knuckle-headed stunt; he had expected them to walk out of their safe-house and head back to Kyoto without him. Their willingness to forgive and forget was a bit…odd, to say the least.

Still, Inuyasha had no reason to push the situation. They had their pay-day and everyone seemed content. There was no reason to make a mountain out of a mole-hill.

Golden eyes shifted to the door to the apartment and Inuyasha's nose quickly sniffed the air, wrinkling in distaste at the putrid smell. The sound of a car door opening from a story or two below filled his ears and Inuyasha became acutely aware that his half-brother had finally arrived; there was the pitter-patter of shoes climbing the staircase, something unusual for the Inu-youkai. Sesshoumaru had a nasty habit of being silent when walking. It was mildly irritating, especially when Inuyasha wanted to bad-mouth his half-brother.

Moments later, with nary a knock on the door, Sesshoumaru proceeded through the door frame earning a nod of acknowledgement from everyone but the half-demon, who only quipped, "you're late." In response, the older brother threatened to turn the half-demon inside out; not willing to take such threats sitting down, Inuyasha told him to fuck off which lead to more verbal violence. Eventually, the two were able to calm down enough to negotiate.

"How much?" Inuyasha asked blankly, tossing the silver case at Sesshoumaru's face.

With ease, Sesshoumaru caught the case and brought it down to his side, a stoic expression presided over his face; a small, barely noticeable and callous smirk contorted in the corner of his lips. "Nothing. It's a fake."

Inuyasha stared in shock at the Inu-youkai who acted blissfully unaware of the bomb he had just dropped. "What the _fuck _do you mean it's a fake?"

A couple of casual coughs could be heard from the room and Inuyasha watched as Sango and Miroku casually turned their heads away. His eyes narrowed into slits as he peered at the two of them; clearly they knew something and weren't sharing.

"Bite your tongue, little brother," Sesshoumaru stated, removing the fake – quartz – jewel from the case and showing it to the younger demon. "After five years, you still can not differentiate between diamond and quartz? Pathetic."

"Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha roared, standing up from the chair. "You're the one who gave us the intel in the first place!" He turned his attention to his friends, who looked not-at-all surprised by the turn of events. "And what the hell are you all doing? Aren't ya' upset by this at all?"

Miroku gave him an apologetic look and stated, "We would be if we weren't expecting it." At that, Inuyasha tilted his head, confused by the technological genius' remark.

"After your little show in Okinawa last month, I decided it best to assess the dynamics of your…" Sesshoumaru trailed off for a minute, looking at each person in the room. Even behind his boulder-like countenance, it was easy to see that he attempting to find a polite word. "…posse. This last assignment you undertook only affirmed my suspicions. There's a crucial lack believability in this outfit, Inuyasha."

"What're ya' tryin' to say, Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha asked, fist raised.

"He's saying that we're not very good at this," Kikyo cut in, bringing her arms behind her head. "It's not surprising considering we barely have enough manpower to cover all of the important roles."

"Well, duh we're not going to do very well if Sesshoumaru's going to yank our chains!" Inuyasha countered. "Besides, you know as well as I do, Kikyo, that it's hard to find someone else to do this kinda stuff."

"This is why I took the liberty of finding someone for you." Sesshoumaru motioned outside of the door frame, guiding in a rather familiar figure, before excusing himself from the apartment. So familiar, in fact, that it took all of Inuyasha's resolve to keep from knocking that silly smile off of the girl's face.

Everything fell into place at that moment: the relative ease of the con, the mark's relative interest in him from the first moment, Kikyo's hopeful question and even his friends' uncaring attitudes. The whole fucking thing had been a set-up; everyone but him was in on this little stunt. Effectively, he had been auditioning another member. It was quite a sting to know that the people he had worked with for years could so easily keep him out of the loop. Much worse, it pissed him off to know that the others were all too willing to let some fucking no-name off the street come waltzing into their group. Especially without his knowledge.

"This is bullshit." Inuyasha's statement had so much venom dripping from it. "What kind of friends are you anyway? Going behind my back."

Kagome moved from her spot and towards the Inu-hanyou, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh, quit being such a baby. You obviously need the help. Did you really think you were _that_ smooth last night?"

Inuyasha growled at the girl, unhappy with the fact that she was in the apartment, much less speaking at all. "What do you know about it?"

"I know that you shouldn't try to smooth talk a girl that you were stalking five days before!" Kagome shot back. Unable to come up with a retort, Inuyasha simply feh'd and walked away into the bedroom, slamming the door rather loudly. Right as the door shut, a loud whistle could be heard from the kitchenette. Kagome looked to Kikyo as she strode off to finish making tea.

* * *

End-Notes: I promised myself I wouldn't do another chapter story...but I can't help it! This one calls to me! It says, _"Flame, you should write a story with multiple underlying themes with correct characterizations and no OC protagonist!" _How could I ignore that challenge? In any case, I do hope some people enjoy (let alone understand) this first chapter. Hopefully this will all turn out okay...

Focus-Tested/Alpha/Beta Readers: **DarkSacredJewelXoX** & **purduepup**


	2. Esse Quam Videri

Disclaimer: I, GodOfFlame101 under the alias of Damien, do not own any copyrights, Trademarks or affiliates of the Anime/Manga InuYasha. I receive no revenue from this story and this story may be distributed or revoked by the will of the producers of said Anime/Manga without myself seeing so much as a penny.

* * *

_**Esse Quam Videri**_

Mark and Execute

* * *

The whirring sound of vibrating trinkets amassed into an operetta of fury; porcelain figurines, crafted in past times on uncertainty and adorned with stones precious only to those who cared, shook and wailed in fear; metal fastenings unhinged themselves as supports, threatening those which relied on such help with nothingness, and creaked with displeasure. Stained plaster walls held the sound in the room, suffocating the normally tranquil habitat with the deafening _crash_ of a slammed wooden door, exaggerated and jagged breaths being expelled into the uneasy atmosphere as the Inu-hanyou attempted to calm himself from the previous ordeal.

It wasn't working.

With startling precision, Inuyasha dropped his foot into the iron bed-frame in front of him causing the normally resolute material to crumple against his anger. The agonized cry caused a new explosion of shocked noise to reverberate around the room; all sound was trapped in that prison as if it was the only discernible matter in a large vacuum. Outside, barely a shuffle could be heard by Inuyasha's fine-tuned ears. Though he surely wasn't listening as closely as he could have been with all of the stress he had been put under; stress that compacted with every consecutive second spent dwelling on the past twelve hours.

'_How could I have missed it?'_ It was a cruel and haunting question that kept circling his conscious. All of the clues, in retrospect, had been in obvious light. There was no excuse for him fucking up so badly. It was _his_ responsibility to recognize these mix-ups and act accordingly; he should have called off the entire thing when she touched his ears and ignored his outburst. Instead, Inuyasha was cocky and now he looked like a complete, oblivious moron.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha's foot once again slammed against the already distorted bed-frame, earning another series of desperate cries. A few shavings fell off the gold painted metal as sharp nails scrapped over the false coating, exposing the true colors of the iron cast. Wonderful, he hadn't noticed that either. He had even told Kikyo how cool he thought it was that they would get "gold" bed-frames. All she had done was smile at him…

"Go away," Inuyasha commanded. The soft pitter-patter or carpeted footsteps had not escaped his senses, nor had the wonderful intoxication of morning oolong tea. Not bothering to wait for a knock and not expecting one either, his clenched hands slammed onto the padded mattress, supporting the mass of body weight that just seemed to desire nothing more than to fall over: defeated. He wished for nothing more than for everyone in the world to either leave him alone, or simply drop dead…well, almost everyone.

Behind him, with nary an announcement, the wooden door creaked open at a moderate pace before just as quickly being closed; a silhouette graced the white-cotton sheets that acted as the hanyou's support for but a moment before melding into one with the room around him. The escalating tension that seemed to cake the windows in thick coats of fog, entrenching the cubicle in darkness, began to dissipate around the two; the steady attraction of their polarized attitudes gently pulling them together, cutting through the dispassionate and uneasy atmosphere. An uncontrolled sigh managed to snake its way through the hanyou's lips when a gentle caress managed to sneak up and down his back, calmly attempting to quell the anger emanating from his form.

"I thought I told you to-"

"-go away?" Kikyo interrupted, placing her chin on Inuyasha's shoulder. "Have I not scolded you enough already about telling such obvious lies?"

Inuyasha straightened up, releasing his fists from the soft fabrics, and growled. Despite how much he liked her, that "condescending mother" tone of Kikyo's could be _so_ irksome. Sure, sometimes the type of 'irksome' could vary…but it was still irksome. "Are you ever going to stop treating me like a child?"

"No." Kikyo guided her arms around the hanyou's waist, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. She smiled when she heard the affirmative grunt; the one that let her knew he was finally smiling. "Now, wouldn't you like to meet the new girl?"

"Feh," Inuyasha stated stubbornly, turning his head away. Hadn't he already gotten to know the stupid girl? It's not like she was going to be any less annoying now that she was supposedly on their side. The thought of that inane bitch joining their group without his say-so nearly sent him over the edge again. Deep and vicious growls were beginning to resonate in his throat, much to the amusement of his _very_ good friend.

"Aw, come on," Kikyo began matching Inuyasha's tone from last night. "You're not still mad at me for not saying anything, are you?"

Scoffing angrily at the question, Inuyasha turned himself around to face Kikyo, wrapping his own arms around her. "What do ya' think?"

The corners of Kikyo's lips transformed quickly into one of her pure smiles, laden with unabashed passion for her dear hanyou, forcing Inuyasha's countenance to soften at her. How could he stay upset with such a loving woman? Gently, Kikyo placed a kiss on Inuyasha's lower lip before remarking, "You're cute when you're angry."

"Oh, spare me," Inuyasha said, holding the woman closer to his body. "So, what has she said to you guys?"

Kikyo shook her head and reached to grab her mug of tea, sitting on an adjacent foot-stool, grinning at the hanyou. "We thought you would to talk to her first. She looks so uncomfortable out there with everyone giving her the cold shoulder."

At that moment, Inuyasha had the strongest urge to thank the brown-eyed woman in front of him; he highly considered skedaddling out of the building to buy her flowers or some other form of his deep appreciation for her. He immensely grateful for how much attention she was willing to pay him, as well as the delicate care she took to either stroke his ego or respect it.

Instead, Inuyasha gently took a sip of Kikyo's Oolong tea and excused himself to go and attend to more business.

* * *

There are few things more depressing to see than a polar bear floating, by its lonesome, on a piece of ice in the middle of an endless expanse of ocean. So many ponderings and mutters are elicited as a result of viewing that pathetic scene; the curious and stalwart animal knowingly steps onto the platform, only to be thrown from the concrete stability of the world he has known for so long and thrust into the uncharted space of the deep blue. What must that poor creature be thinking an hour later, miles from home and forced to bear the uncertainties of his situation? Does he ever cry or silently wish that it was all a bad dream; does he try to form conversations with the trepid ice block? Or, instead, does he sit on his cold and uncaring coffin, waiting for the only true certainty of life to overtake him in one form or another…

"That was a really good performance you guys put on, you know?"

The words just seemed to float in mid-air, dancing around the charcoal-haired girl's head, casually taunting her with the truths of her situation. Not only did she sound like a timid bitch, whimpering out conversation, but she was also unmistakably _alone_. The shills known as Miroku and Sango may still have been in the room with her but, for the first time since coming to Kagoshima, there was no support system for her to lean on. In the beginning, if things had gone awry, she could have called on Sesshoumaru (though, one has to wonder if he would have been inclined to help). Now, she was all on her own…for the moment, at least.

"Y-you guys aren't very talkative, are you?"

It was difficult to hold back his chuckle once Kagome began stuttering, mostly because Kikyo's elbow collided with his stomach and knocked it right out of him. Glancing back at her, he was able to catch her glare that said, _'you're enjoying this too much.'_ Indeed, he was enjoying it with every passing second. Kagome was, to be blunt, an unwelcomed, unattractive and undesired nuisance in his eyes; there was no reason, in his mind, to take this girl in and assimilate her into their outfit. Not even to appease Sesshoumaru – that was a good enough reason to just kick the girl out.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Inuyasha simply watched the girl squirm about for another few moments. Why the hell had Sesshoumaru even brought this girl to them in the first place? What made her so fucking special? Whatever it was, he couldn't see it and, thankfully, neither could Miroku or Sango; the two of them were rightfully ignoring all of Kagome's questions, each of them focusing their attention on more "important" things – the look on Kagome's face when Sango would kick the air with such force that a loud _snap_ could be heard was simply priceless.

Her eyes darted down to the hallway where the Inu-hanyou was standing, dominant and imposing, and their eyes locked onto each other once again. He could see the uncertainty and burgeoning fear escalating in her chocolate orbs, looking at him for help; she was imploring him to help her, to take her off of that drifting ice-cube in the middle of the ocean and drag her back onto dry land. Inuyasha's countenance remained hard, not a shred of humor on it as he closed his eyes and walked into the living room; he figured it was about time to get to the bottom of everything.

Plus, Kikyo had hissed at him for taking so long. He really didn't want to upset her at the moment.

Miroku closed his laptop as the hanyou approached them, cocking his head to the alpha. "Welcome back, Inuyasha. We were beginning to think you had just up and left us."

"Yeah, what gives? It's not like you to get all frightened over one little girl," Sango teased, stretching her arms above her head. An audible gulp from Kagome could be heard as some of the martial artist's joints "cracked".

Kagome's brow furrowed for a moment, probably thinking about how outmatched and out of her element she truly was; she was probably scared of their impressive little group. At least, that's what Inuyasha assumed.

"Hey, wait a minute," Kagome said, looking toward the hanyou. "Inuyasha? You told me your name was-"

"-I lied." Inuyasha cut in. His gaze remained firm, unwavering from their fixation on the timid creature, as Kagome shifted uncomfortably in her seat, brushing her legs against the rugged brown chair that Kikyo had been sitting in. In response, Kagome glared back at him, bearing her nonexistent fangs as she growled out at him. Inuyasha's face fell at the reaction, startled by her sudden outburst. Once she noticed his expression softened, hers did as well, falling into a noticeable glare and scowl. Inuyasha, in turn, cocked an eyebrow at her.

This girl was _something_, all right.

"Look, I ain't in the mood for any crap, alright?" Inuyasha sat down in what could appropriately be described as his recliner at this point, keeping his arms folded as he stared at the girl across from him. "Let's just get this over with. Why the hell are you here?"

"What do you mean? Didn't Sesshoumaru tell you guys already?" Kagome asked incredulously, unaware of the very volatile situation she was creating. She looked to Kikyo, who was about to say something but Inuyasha beat her to it.

"I don't give a _damn_ what Sesshoumaru said," Inuyasha growled out, inching forward in his chair. "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

It was _very_ difficult to fight back the smirk that threatened to overtake his mouth at the sight of Kagome's confusion; her curious blinking and blank expression were quite the spectacle. She was like a child who had been asked what they wanted for their birthday – she hadn't expected such a question. Clearly, Kagome thought that everyone was just going to open their arms and give her a big fucking hug the moment she walked in; they were all supposed to share a friendly laugh and crack a few jokes before welcoming her into the group with all the trust they could muster.

Yeah, no. Trust was something to be earned.

The new girl gasped, realizing exactly what was being asked of her, and fidgeted once again before averting her eyes from the onlookers. "No."

The cocky smirk that Inuyasha had been trying so hard to avoid transformed into an irate scowl as he glanced over to Kikyo. There was a content smile dancing around her face, a confident glint to her eyes that had begun filling Inuyasha in on everything he needed to know. He was beginning to understand why Sesshoumaru had picked this particular girl…and that understanding pissed him off.

"Whadda ya' mean 'no'?" the Inu-hanyou spat, gripping the armrests of the recliner with a startling amount of vigor, his claws digging into the cheap fabric. Damn, he wanted to be wrong about this girl…

Kagome's face shot back to him, lips curled with malice and venom, giving him one of the most frightening glares a human can give. Her fingers clenched into shaking fist, pressing deep into her lap, as she visibly tried to contain her boiling anger. "I mean _no_! N-o-no! I'm not going to tell you my life story just because we have to work together. Like it or not, I'm on the team now and to be honest I'm not very happy with having to work with someone as rude as you anyway. So there."

Things remained eerily quiet after Kagome had said her peace, the tension strangling out anyone's desire to speak. Sango and Miroku exchanged surprised glances with each other, shocked to see such an outburst from the previously timid girl, and even more surprised by the uncharacteristically quiet hanyou; even Kikyo was perplexed by his silence. She hadn't expected Kagome to be as stubborn as Sesshoumaru described; it was interesting to say the least.

The silence didn't last too long however.

"Yeah, well I'm not happy that some useless girl has to tag along with us!" Inuyasha suddenly shouted, pointing a clawed finger at Kagome.

"That's it!" Kagome shouted back, digging into her purse. She pulled out a large paper package and tossed it into the hanyou's lap. "You're impossible, you know that? Until you drop that attitude, this conversation is over."

Inuyasha did his best to ignore the comment, ripping into the paper package and sorting through its contents. The standard "gifts" from Sesshoumaru were inside: a prepaid cellular, an envelope labeled **Vacation Plans** that more than likely contained their tickets back to Kyoto, and a sticky note with directions to their next pick-up location. The only abnormal item was the rather slim manila folder that was nestled at the bottom; inside was a crudely assembled dossier of Kagome, with a particularly snarky message from the dear Inu-youkai clipped on. Scanning through, Inuyasha let out an audible growl before ripping to dossier out and handing it to Kikyo.

"I don't need a damn babysitter," Inuyasha stated flatly, glaring angrily at the woman. He was _not_ happy.

Kikyo shook her head and took the folder away from him; one hand opened the thin file while the other tangled itself on top of Inuyasha's head, gently scratching the base of his pointed ears. She scanned through the highlighted sections, rereading over some of the original passages that caused her to go along with the faux con; her fingers danced in jittery movements, caressing the edges of the furry triangles, trying to ignore the very light purr that had begun to fill the room. The hanyou was blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

"She's not your babysitter, Inuyasha," Kikyo stated sternly, not willing to humor the notion. "However, whether you like it or not, Kagome is with us. We need the extra help."

"Who died and made you queen?" Inuyasha asked, throwing caution to the wind, expecting Kikyo to recant and rephrase her little speech; he quickly dropped that expectation after she shot him a glare out of the corner of her eye. "B-besides, we don't need some doxy running around without being tested."

"Inuyasha!" Fed up with the circle being run, Sango stood up from her place beside Miroku, looking at the Inu-hanyou with resentment at his conduct. "Don't call the girl names. We should be grateful that we could even find someone willing to join us, especially with _your_ reputation."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed into golden slits as he peered over at the other woman, unsettled by her outburst and her willingness to introduce past events that most _assuredly_ did not need to be discussed in front of Kagome; tales of mistakes and naivety were best left for better days and situations that necessitated the moral.

"Indeed. It would be unwise to insult others given your own history," Miroku announced, setting his computer off to the side and strolling over toward the upset Kagome. He cooed a couple times into her ear, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her from the ordeal she had just gone through. "And look what you've done to the poor, young lady. Have you no shame, Inuyasha?"

…Reading a person's expression is an ability that comes from the merging of both natural intuition and extensive practice; it's a skill that goes beyond simply knowing what someone might be feeling, but rather gives out what the person is hiding. Even the most hardened card players falter, and when the reader notices these faults, it presents an open window into that person's being, a door way to understand their intentions, their fears, and their weaknesses. To con anyone, reading a person's features was the principle step in assessing what practical measures need to be taken; con men have to be able to, for lack of a better cliché, "read them like a book".

Inuyasha had to wonder how Kagome had made it far in her "career" without picking up on that very important technique; she had to be greener that he had first thought. She _should_ have seen Miroku's intentions right from the get-go; she _should_ have been disgusted with him and pushed him away. Perhaps the fact that she was completely oblivious to the man's motivation made it all the more hilarious when she yelped and smacked him across the face. Inuyasha had almost laughed when she bolted out of the recliner and went to hide behind Kikyo.

He had wanted to laugh, but he also had to keep in mind one very important fact: He _also_ hadn't been able to tell she was lying.

"You creep! Just what are you trying to pull?" Kagome shouted at the shill, peeking her head up from over Kikyo's shoulder.

"Now there's no need to be so crass," Miroku stated eloquently, rubbing his sore cheek and slowing closing the distance between himself and the cowering Kagome. "I was merely attempting to assess your fertility in case I wanted you to bear my child."

Not a moment after he finished (and seventeen picoseconds before Kagome could reach over and maim the brown-haired man), Sango viciously reach over and grabbed Miroku by his ear, pulling him back toward the shabby brown rug he was once sitting on; at the sight before them, Inuyasha and Kikyo shared a knowing glance, slightly amused by the consistent behavior of the two shills and this new volatile (and very humorous) screeching from the new girl.

"You just can't control yourself, can you?" Sango asked, pulling harder on the man's ear.

"It's not my fault! It's the hand, I swear Sango!" Miroku exclaimed, trying to get Sango's vice-grip off of him.

"Enough," Inuyasha commanded. In return, everyone paused and looked at him; even the annoying new girl had curiously cocked her head in his direction, albeit with an incredulous look on her face. "We're leaving in a few hours. Go get packed you two. Come on, Kikyo."

The majority of the posse understood what Inuyasha was talking about; organizing a safe and relatively discrete flight out of town was risky business. It was not enough to simply have tickets, especially in the days of invasive luggage inspections, radiation sweeps and topographic scanning; Inuyasha and everyone else would be arrested on the spot if a customs agent saw what they were transporting around. The quartet often needed a "special" way of transporting their goods across the country; Inuyasha and Kikyo, however, were usually the only two who knew of that "special" way. The relative hierarchy and distribution of information had many advantages, the largest one being that, when compromised, one of them could claim legitimate ignorance of the situation.

Smirking slightly at his candor, Kikyo stepped in close to the fleeting Inu-hanyou, matching the rhythm of his footsteps.

"What about me?" It was a rather timid question by the previous standard Kagome had set for herself.

'_I thought she was done talking to me.' _The memory amused him, but the emotion didn't show on his person. Inuyasha simply let out a small "feh" and left the apartment with Kikyo.

* * *

End-Notes: Yawn. It always surprises me when I have the capability, unlike some of my contemporaries, to focus on instances in time as major areas of plot; there's no need for huge time lapses here and there. It makes me sort of happy. Oh, well: if this story still interests you, expect another update in...three or four weeks. Research papers and other things to write. Thank you for those that have shown support for this story so far. My entire libido goes out to you all.

Chapter-Focus/Alpha Reader: **BlackRoseTheVampire**


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